I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best of luck for this year’s Tour de France. While much of the sporting focus in Wales is on our national football team ahead of the quarter final match in the European Championship, your prowess at the highest level of the sport more than deserves to be acknowledged and commended.

You are about to compete in one of the most gruelling events in the sporting calendar; an event watched by tens of millions of people across the world. By competing in the tour - and riding for such a high-profile team while doing so - you are helping to ensure Welsh cycling and Wales itself features prominently on a global stage.

While you both ensure that people around the world know about the strength of Welsh cycling, the impact you are having on encouraging grassroots cycling is tremendous. Where I live in the Rhondda the explosion in the interest in cycling in recent years is evidence of your influence. This is no better epitomised by local cycling related businesses and clubs, like for example the Bike Doctor cycling club based in Porth which is fostering interest in the sport at all ages and abilities. This growth can, in no small part, be put down to positive role models like you to aspire to.

Once again, good luck for the duration of the tour. We will all be following your progress over the next 21 days.

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About Leanne

As I look around the Rhondda, I am reminded that if we keep doing the same thing we will get the same results. As the AM for the Rhondda, I am committed to policies that will provide solutions to our problems. There is no problem that cannot be solved. My vision for the Rhondda includes a plan to create jobs, to support and improve public services and to make the Rhondda and Wales a better place for all of us to live.